Weekend Adventures- Part Dos!

So as I’m sure you read yesterday, fellow @SAFirstYears blogger Katie Schmalzel hosted me this past Memorial Day weekend for an amazing adventure around Denver and Golden, Colorado.

While Katie pretty much covered everything you really needed to know, i.e. every awesome thing we did and more, I want to explain how it kind of ended up being such a great weekend! While Katie and I knew each other in graduate school (Ball State SAAHE, chirp chirp!), for me it really began around New Years, when I started reading The Happiness Project. I know Katie has mentioned this book in past blogs, as she was reading it about the same time too. Well each month we would talk about things in our life we wanted to work towards, improve, eliminate, or whatever it may be, to improve our happiness. In about March, another friend from our cohort called me excitedly to tell me about a 5K she had seen online called the Color Run. Well perfect! There was one in Denver, CO, and Katie so generously offered to host us. While our fellow SAAHE-er was unable to come last minute, Katie and I met up and had a blast.

The journey of old and new friends didn’t stop there. While I was boarding the plane to go to Denver, I noticed that fellow SA First Years blogger Amma had tweeted about going to Denver. Excitedly we exchanged a couple texts and figured out we would both be at this 5K. Not only was I going to be able to run “the happiest 5k on Earth,” but I was also able to meet up with yet another fellow SA friend. Meeting up with Amma after an amazing 5K led to meeting even more SA colleagues from Johnson and Wales, an institution I had never heard of. We then got some lunch, covered in color chalk, and went and sat in the middle of the “J Woo” campus (I hope I got it right!). It just amazed me that by participating in a race in Denver, granted it had about 10,000 other participants, led to meeting not only a fellow blogger from Florida, but also some new SA friends just up the road!

The weekend away was just what I needed. I had stretched myself way too thin at work, and was past the point of overwhelmed and exhausted. I’m so grateful for Katie’s wonderful hospitality and patience with me while I struggled with the elevation (The Utah native in me will still never get over that), and the pure embarrassment I’m sure I caused her with our work out classes, hikes, BBQs, and the 5K.

Traveling is a wonderful thing. Not only does it have the ability to refresh one’s soul, but it also can lead to new connections and personal growth as well. I highly encourage each person reading this to take at least one weekend this summer to get away and explore somewhere new, whether it is near or far.

This also leads me to a shout out to all those who will be attending NACURH 2012 this weekend! I will be there, and I know my fellow Thursday writing buddy @ByeByeRyan will be there as well! Please feel free to tweet me and hopefully we can meet up! It would be great to connect with some fellow advisor’s and new friends!